1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to an improved messaging system and, in particular, to a method and system for specifying messaging system greetings according to caller identification. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for allowing a messaging system subscriber to pre-record multiple greeting announcements for a single mailbox and specify recipients of each of the multiple greeting announcements according to caller identification.
2. Description of the Related Art
In this age of communication, telephone answering machines and network messaging services have become an essential part of business and household operation. There is a reliance upon a machine or service to answer phone calls and record messages from callers when a human recipient is not available.
In general, a telephone answering machine or network messaging service acts to answer calls designated for a particular phone number, play a pre-recorded greeting message, and allow a user to leave a message that can then be later retrieved and listened to by a recipient.
In particular, telephone answering machines are typically either stand-alone units or coupled with a telephone device. The telephone answering machine is typically equipped with a speaker to play-back recorded messages. A user may physically press a button on the telephone answering machine to start play-back via the machine speaker, for example, or may call the telephone answering machine and enter a special code via a telephone to start play-back to that telephone, for example. A single telephone answering machine may include multiple xe2x80x9cmailboxesxe2x80x9d where each mailbox is typically introduced by a distinct greeting message and a caller is enabled to select between the multiple mailboxes.
Network messaging services are typically provided by telephone and other telecommunication companies and may be subscribed to by users, typically for a fee. The messaging service switches a phone call to a network messaging service after a particular number of rings and records messages left by callers in a particular mailbox that can be accessed by a recipient. Typically, the recipient calls the messaging service and enters a special code to access the mailbox of recorded messages. A single phone number may have multiple mailboxes associated therewith that can be selected from by a caller once the network messaging service answers the phone call.
Another form of messaging often comes from capturing a caller identification (caller ID) for the phone number of a caller. A caller ID may be captured and displayed to a user via a display at the user""s phone or via an external caller ID capturing device. Each caller ID is typically stored such that a user may scroll through caller IDs of received calls, even when a recorded message is not left by the caller.
The use of a caller ID capturing device has allowed many people to discontinue use of messaging services and call back those caller IDs that are of interest. However, in returning a call, the caller may not be available. It would be advantageous for a subscriber of a messaging service who is not able to leave a message for another to leave selective greeting messages for that other person according to the person""s caller ID.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,709 (""709) provides an answering machine with multiple voice mail boxes that is capable of receiving caller ID data and is programmable to automatically route incoming messages to individual mailboxes dependent upon the caller ID. However, the ""709 patent does not provide for differentiating greeting messages for a single mailbox based on caller ID data.
It would be advantageous, however, to provide a messaging system that is enabled to receive caller ID data, automatically route incoming messages to individual mailboxes according to caller ID or caller mailbox selection, and automatically play a particular preprogrammed greeting message to the caller according to a caller ID. In particular, it would be advantageous to designate a one-time play greeting message for a caller or a greeting message that is played for every call from that caller.
In view of the foregoing, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved messaging system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved method and system for specifying messaging system greetings according to caller identification.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and system for allowing a messaging system subscriber to pre-record multiple greeting announcements for a single mailbox and specify recipients of each of the multiple greeting announcements according to caller identification.
In accordance with the present invention, a unique caller is identified from an incoming call transmission at a messaging system. A particular greeting announcement is played to the unique caller from among multiple greeting announcements recorded at the messaging system, wherein the particular greeting announcement was previously specified by a subscriber of the messaging system for the unique caller. In a preferred embodiment, the subscriber of the messaging system is enabled to specify multiple greeting announcements according to multiple unique callers for playing prior to switching each unique caller to a single subscriber mailbox at the messaging system.
All objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.